


Lonely But Sweet

by ambiguously



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Character Death Fix, F/F, MayThe4th Treat
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-04
Updated: 2019-05-04
Packaged: 2020-02-16 14:07:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18693058
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ambiguously/pseuds/ambiguously
Summary: Jyn is rescued from Scarif by the Tantive IV.





	Lonely But Sweet

**Author's Note:**

  * For [thedevilchicken](https://archiveofourown.org/users/thedevilchicken/gifts).



"You gave it to the droid?"

They've been thrown into a cell together. The girl, Jyn, is still twitching from her interrogation at the ungentle hands of the Empire, still recovering from the mission she undertook to collect the plans to the station they're being held on. It's a miracle she made it alive back to Leia's ship, for all the good it did her, and another miracle that most of her strike team found similar passage away from Scarif by rescue ships from the Rebel fleet. Leia didn't see how many had a chance to jump away.

"I wouldn't say that," Leia replies, knowing there are cams with them in the cell. Someone is watching, hoping they'll reveal all their secrets. She was seen giving the plans to her father's favorite R2 unit. That's no reason to confirm it.

"You had the plans, and you had the droid, and now the droid is gone and so is our last chance." Jyn gestures to the closest cam. "They know. They asked me about the droid."

Leia doesn't let her face show anything. A lifetime under her parents' tutelage has taught her well how to hide what she's thinking. Currently, the thoughts going through her head are a long string of swear words her parents would be surprised she knows.

Jyn sits down on the hard bunk and rubs her arms. After a moment, Leia sits next to her. They were introduced briefly when Jyn came aboard, running through the corridors of the _Profundity_ with her precious cargo. Father had briefed Leia on the unsanctioned mission, on Jyn, but it's all a swirl of information, and Leia's head is woozy with the interrogation drugs in her system.

She pulls herself together. She has to be strong. "I gave our cause the best chance I could. Now all we can do is hold on to our hope."

The girl lets out a short, barking laugh.

Jyn is in a million pieces. Leia can practically feel her confusion and her pain. Her father was killed, Leia remembers, and she was part of Saw Gerrera's team but he's dead now, too, and not all of her teammates made it past the broken shield gate, and she's been tortured for information by the Imperials. The girl must be on her last legs, and Leia wants to protect her, even as another memory kicks into place suggesting Jyn is older than she is.

Leia takes her shoulders and turns her, trying to catch her eyes. "Can you hold on just a little longer?" she asks. "It won't be much longer, I swear." This is true. Leia expects they'll be executed within a day for treason. She's sure the rest of the crew of the _Tantive IV_ are already dead, and the only reason Jyn wasn't shot with them was because she wasn't in uniform and the Imperial lackeys who imprisoned Leia weren't sure if she was important.

"I'm fine," Jyn says, in opposition to all evidence. "I can't believe you gave the plans to the droid."

"He's a good droid. I trust he'll do what he can to get the plans to safety." She wraps an arm around Jyn's shoulders, squeezing her.

* * *

It's an hour later, and Leia has been thrown back into her shared cell. Jyn looks up from her own private hells, and stares at Leia. A lifetime of practice can't keep the expression off her own face now. Father was headed home the last time they spoke. Mother was already there. Had they even seen the flash of light before the end?

Jyn holds out a hand, and helps Leia up. They return to the single bunk together, sitting side by side. Jyn doesn't speak to her, but she's a warm presence beside Leia.

Leia says, "We have to hold on to our hope," and the words mock her. She hasn't given up the base. The plans are somewhere with the R2 unit, if he survived to deliver them to someone who could help. These are pinpricks of starlit hope against the inky black despair threatening her.

"Vader gave the order for our execution," Jyn tells her. She looks at the cams. To Leia's surprise, and to her great respect, Jyn flashes them an obscene sign. "There's no way out of the cell. I can't rewire the door from this side. There's nothing to use as a weapon." She touches her throat absently. "I've been in Imperial prisons before. Normally they leave my necklace with me."

"Was it a weapon?"

"Not unless you have the Force. I've never met anyone who did."

"I've met Jedi. They're not as impressive as you'd think." She shivers. "And Vader. I've met Vader."

* * *

Another hour, and the cell door opens. A short stormtrooper comes in, and pauses, confused to see two prisoners in the cell together. He's not nearly as impressive as he hopes either, but he does get them out of the cell alive even if Leia has to take over her own rescue once she sees the rest of the extraction team. Jyn is the only one who sees the humor in the five of them ending up wet and smelly in the garbage; her laugh gives Leia the first good feeling she's had since watching her planet be blown to bits. Then it's a mad race through the station, running and separating, and flying on a thin rope with this awkward boy while she prays the others make it through alive.

They all almost do. Leia can feel it herself when Father's old friend General Kenobi is killed, the man who filled so many of her childhood stories, but it's one pain among too many others today. Jyn takes her arm, dragging her towards the YT-1300 that's their ride out of here.

"Do you trust them?" Jyn asks her when they're well away. She's calmer now, in the wake of everything that's happened to her.

"They saved our lives. We don't have a lot of other options." The truth is, Leia does trust them, freely offering the location of Base One even though they could be pirates bent on ransoming them, or worse. She doesn't believe they are.

Jyn looks around the ship, her own suspicions still high. "They're not with the Rebellion. Even Saw's worst assets had more discipline than this."

Leia shakes her head. "That was one of Gerrera's problems. He saw people as assets." She sees the tangled sorrows on Jyn's face, and adds, "I don't know if I said before, but I'm sorry. I'm sorry about Saw and your father."

Jyn accepts her sympathy and returns it. "I'm sorry, too. I always heard Alderaan was beautiful."

Sorrows of her own could overwhelm her if she lets them. But there's too much to do. "It was," Leia says tightly.

* * *

Between the debriefings and the unexpected battle, Leia doesn't see Jyn again for a while. She's reunited with the survivors of her team, and Leia sees how the rest of the base treats them now. It's not the same as they treat the high-flying heroes who blew up the Death Star. Instead, there's a kind of mystical awe surrounding them. No one wants to get too close, or make eye contact too long, like they are holy relics, and not just the last two survivors of Jedha. Leia is welcomed into the leadership circle of the Rebellion without question, but her companions are the ones the rest of the troops wonder at.

"Hi," Leia says, catching up with Jyn as they're both readying equipment for the evacuation. "How are you feeling?"

Jyn pauses with her load, and a shadow crosses her face before it's replaced with something brighter. "Better. You?"

"I'm better too," Leia says, and she doesn't know if Jyn is lying the same way she is. It doesn't matter. They have to be better now. There's no time to pause and mourn the dead. "What ship are you evacuating on?"

"I don't know yet. They keep changing the rosters."

"You should come with me," Leia says impulsively. "I'm on a command carrier. They've given me a stupidly big room. You could stay with me."

"Just like old times?" Jyn says, teasing. "Back in prison?"

"The food will be better anyway. Think about it." She has to go, and she doesn't want to. She wants to stay here with Jyn and ask how her friends are faring, how she's really feeling.

* * *

The room _is_ stupidly big. Threepio has returned to her service, although Artoo has developed a strange fondness for Luke, and they both call him 'Master.' Droids are odd, especially these two. Still, the room is too big for her and Threepio, too. Leia sets to work, putting her containers of clothes into place, then getting out the datapads with the latest intelligence reports.

When the door chimes and slides open, Leia is expecting a courier with news, or a pompous visit from the Captain of this ship. Instead, it's a girl she honestly barely knows, a knapsack on her shoulder, and a nervous smile on her face. "You're right," Jyn says. "This is a stupidly big room. What is it even for?"

"Impressing people. This isn't a warship. We need more of those." She waves Jyn in and returns to her reading, ignoring the odd flutter in her stomach as the door closes and Jyn is in there with her.

"Mistress Leia," Threepio pipes up. "Will you be needing my services?"

"Not for tonight." Leia looks at Jyn now, and she sees the same thing in her eyes that Leia is trying to keep off her own features. "Actually, there's a charging station in the wardrobe area. Why don't you go power down in there?"

Baffled but obedient, the droid shuffles away to the wardrobe room, which is still bigger than the crew quarters on its own. He'll be fine in there.

Jyn's mouth twists into a smile as the door shuts behind him, leaving them alone. She brings in her bag and unpacks. She doesn't have much to her name. Most of their people don't. The Rebellion is filled with orphans, widows, and lost souls. She and Jyn were orphaned almost on the same day. Luke too, but Luke's on some other ship, not standing in her quarters in front of her, nervous and tired and filled with understanding as Leia steps closer, placing a hand on the half-empty sack.

"You can unpack later," she says, and it's all she has time to say before Jyn's hands are cupping her cheeks and she is kissing her as though Leia is keeping her alive, as though Leia is the reservoir of all Jyn's hopes.

The room is stupidly big, but the bed is the perfect size for two.


End file.
